BOLTON left the Premier League cursing their luck and referee Chris Foy. But whatever excuses they cling to, they now face a major restructuring.

In a game of bizarre and controversial goals, played against a backdrop of the drama unfolding at the Etihad, Bolton just could not secure the win which would have kept them up.

Manager Owen Coyle said: “The mood in the dressing room is very sombre. The events that happened are hard to sum up and hard to take.”

But the reality this morning is that Bolton, who have been haemorrhaging money for the past few seasons, will now take a £40million hit on their annual income. Jobs will go.

And with 11 players now out of contract and three more ending loans from other clubs, the first-team squad must be completely reviewed and rebuilt for life in the Championship.

Coyle said: “My feelings are not for me; they’re for our supporters. We will come back bigger and stronger.”

My feelings are not for me; they’re for our supporters. We will come back bigger and stronger

Owen Coyle

But that seems another example of the bravado he exhibited throughout a calamitous season. Yesterday’s drama was only the final act of a campaign in which Bolton’s deeds seldom matched their manager’s articulate, but mostly deluded, boasts about his players’ capabilities.

Stoke delivered their first blow after 12 minutes yesterday. Matthew Etherington’s cross came off Jonathan

Walters but goalkeeper Adam Bogdan clasped the ball with both hands.

Walters then jumped into Bogdan, who dropped the ball on to his opponent’s head and watched it loop into the net.

It looked like a foul and an infuriated Bolton bench started a mass protest from the technical area.

Bolton’s equaliser, six minutes before half-time, was a fluke. Bogdan lumped the ball forward and, as it reached the Stoke area, Robert Huth wellied his clearance straight against Mark Davies. The ball ricocheted into the net.

News came through that QPR were losing and, in the last moments of normal time in the first half, Kevin Davies, one of those whose contract is expiring, put Bolton ahead – entirely unintentionally.

His cross from the right was not very good, but it sailed towards the near post and Thomas Sorensen, reacting too late and ineffectually, waved it into his net.

So, for the duration of the interval and three minutes into the second half, manager Coyle, his players and the 2,800 travelling fans, clung to the belief that they would not be relegated.

But first came news of a QPR equaliser, then Stoke grabbed a leveller after 77 minutes after Bogdan brought down Peter Crouch, with Walters converting the spot-kick.

Stoke boss Tony Pulis, whose side’s European sortie meant they played 56 competitive games, said: “We’ve had a great season, but what happened to bolton shows that you must keep pushing on."